Ensemble approach for potential habitat mapping of invasive Prosopis in Turkana, Kenya

Aim: Prosopis spp. are an invasive alien plant species native to the Americas and well adapted to thrive in arid environments. In Kenya, several remote‐sensing studies conclude that the genus is well established throughout the country and is rapidly in‐ vading new areas. This research aims to model the potential habitat of Prosopis spp. by using an ensemble model consisting of four species distribution models. Furthermore, environmental and expert knowledge‐based variables are assessed. Location: Turkana County, Kenya. Methods: We collected and assessed a large number of environmental and expert knowl‐ edge‐based variables through variable correlation, collinearity, and bias tests. The varia‐ bles were used for an ensemble model consisting of four species distribution models: (a) logistic regression, (b) maximum entropy, (c) random forest, and (d) Bayesian networks. The models were evaluated through a block cross‐validation providing statistical measures. Results: The best predictors fo...